(Reuters) - A shallow-water Gulf of Mexico drilling rig has partially collapsed off the coast of Louisiana after catching fire because of a ruptured natural gas well, U.S. regulators said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said beams supporting the derrick and rig floor on the Hercules Offshore jackup rig had crumpled over the rig structure.

A third firefighting vessel was en route to the scene, though no sheen was seen on the water's surface during overflights conducted on Wednesday morning, the regulator said.

The fire ignited shortly before 11 p.m. CDT on Tuesday. The Walter Oil & Gas-owned well had ruptured hours earlier as Hercules worked to prepare it for production. The well released natural gas, but no oil, according to BSEE.

No one was on board when the rig caught fire, BSEE said. Hercules said 44 people were evacuated after the rupture and no injuries were reported. The rig is in 154 feet of water about 55 miles south of the coast of Louisiana.

Hercules said earlier on Wednesday that the company was working to plug the well.

It might drill a relief well, which would intersect the ruptured well and provide another avenue for cement to plug it, Hercules said.

Well, at least it wasn't BP again. As we can see, our government has done a bang-up job of learning from the last cluster-fuck and preventing another one. This makes it obvious that Bush... I mean, Obama... is in bed with Big Oil.

Last edited by Bones McCracker on Thu Jul 25, 2013 4:05 am; edited 1 time in total

(Reuters) - A shallow-water Gulf of Mexico drilling rig has partially collapsed off the coast of Louisiana after catching fire because of a ruptured natural gas well, U.S. regulators said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said beams supporting the derrick and rig floor on the Hercules Offshore jackup rig had crumpled over the rig structure.

A third firefighting vessel was en route to the scene, though no sheen was seen on the water's surface during overflights conducted on Wednesday morning, the regulator said.

The fire ignited shortly before 11 p.m. CDT on Tuesday. The Walter Oil & Gas-owned well had ruptured hours earlier as Hercules worked to prepare it for production. The well released natural gas, but no oil, according to BSEE.

No one was on board when the rig caught fire, BSEE said. Hercules said 44 people were evacuated after the rupture and no injuries were reported. The rig is in 154 feet of water about 55 miles south of the coast of Louisiana.

Hercules said earlier on Wednesday that the company was working to plug the well.

It might drill a relief well, which would intersect the ruptured well and provide another avenue for cement to plug it, Hercules said.

Well, at least it wasn't BP again. As we can see, our government has done a bang-up job of learning from the last cluster-fuck and preventing another one. This makes it obvious that Bush... I mean, Obama... is in bed with Big Oil.

You never know what's going to come out of a hole in the ground. Oil and natural gas often come out of the same wells. You can see in the article they were concerned about whether they'd find a "sheen" on the water. Also, it's not like releasing vast quantities of methane is good for global warming.

BonezTheGoon wrote:

At least the one you are talking about is under water, so it won't ever do this.